Starbursts & Peanut Butter M&M's

Strange heading I know....but that is 2 things that I miss and crave! So, for those of you who want to make my day...you can send those to me!  I will cover a few odds and ends before moving on.  First I have realized that the Thai people LOVE John Denver! I have heard his song, "Country Roads, Take Me Home," more times in the 3 weeks I have been here, than in the 27 years of my existence! And I am NOT exaggerating! Fortunately, I happen to love that song! Also, as one of the girls that lives at the Ecohouse, was walking back to her room, she saw a ginormous, long, black snake go across the path! Thus I am paranoid every time I walk on the path now!  When I talked about how my people from the school came to take me shopping for skirts, I forgot to mention that I was looking for shoes, and was asking about sizes...they have 34, 35, 36, etc. Well, I've never thought that I've had big feet until this moment, when he had to get me size 40, which was okay, but I asked if he had anything bigger, and he looked at me like I was crazy! Cailin and I saw another teacher slap and pinch a student. I just don't think I could bring myself to do that! Shortly after that, Cailing was randomly looking outside our glass classroom door and saw a student...naked! We were trying to figure out what the reasoning behind it was....and we pegged it as a form of punishment...but we still aren't sure!
Finally a few days ago, we got to do some actual teaching! We basically taught all day because there were 3 teachers that were absent. In one class we split the class into 2 teams and then found different objects in the room and the 1st student would say, "what is this?" The 2nd would reply, "it is a ....."  Then the whole class had to repeat it.  That afternoon, we took the kids outside and walked around the school.  The students, or myself, would find an object and say, "what is this?" If the students didn't know, I would say what it was. The kids had to spell the word. Most of the time they didn't know how to spell it and then I would sound out the word using phonics.   

The next day we took pictures with our class, and with Nan, our Thai assistant/translator,

and Pat, the MEP program coordinator.

Our entire MEP class.

This is James, the school assistant we work with daily, and one of my favorite little

 students, Maprow! I KNOW we aren't supposed to have favorites, but I can't help it! He is

just such a little sweetheart!

We had to go to Bangkok this past week to get our certification. We had to bring a copy of our passport, copies of our degrees, our contract with the school, and a few other documents. To get to this point, we were supposed to have had our TEFL (teaching english as a foreign language) training...which we haven't had. It's been a point of frustration for us. I don't care about the certification as much as I do getting the actual textbook training.  Everything went smoothly getting our teacher certification. After that we went to the US Embassy because I thought I could get my visa extended their, but I found out I had to go to the Thai immigration.  I'm not sure if I mentioned that I was supposed to get a year visa, but when it came back, it was only a sinle entry for 3 months. Another frustrating subject!

Lunch made Cailin and I feel better! The director at the school bought lunch and for dessert we had some fresh mango and sticky rice...it was sooo delicious! Sticky rice is rice that has coconut, sugar, and a bit of salt. That evening, we were encouraged to go to this Rotary club meeting because Pat, the program coordinator was giving a speech. We asked if any of it was going to be in English and we were assured that it would be! In the 2 hours we were there, there were roughly 5 words spoken in English! I think we were there as proof that they have teachers for the MEP class! 

This next picture is the "bus" that takes us to school in the morning!

The next day in class we observed the kids playing this game in Math where 2 kids played against each other and they were counting from 1 to 20 and they could say 1 or 2 numbers at a time and at first whoever said 20 was the winner and then after they did that whoever said 20 was the loser. Then they could pick someone else to challenge them. One of the kids picked me. I was quite excited about the challenge.  Unfortunately, I didn't win! I was not happy! Cailin lost too so I felt better! That afternoon we spent writing objectives for Science class by looking at the standards and indicators. We needed to figure out what the goal was or what we wanted to students to accomplish. After we had all the objectives for the Unit, we could appropriately place them with individual lesson plans and standards.

Later that evening, Cailin found out that there was wireless internet at the ecohouse....and we were both a bit irritated since we have probably spent almost 1000 baht in the past 3 weeks going to the internet cafe next door! That night for supper we had quite the treat...fried onion rings! They were quite tasty! We also discovered that the lady across the street gives massages! So...we had to give her some business! I did some quick math and figured that I could get 2-3 massages a week for a month for the price of what it costs to get 1 massage back home!

I will leave you with a quote that I got from a t-shirt of one of the girls that lives here. "For beautiful lips, speak words of kindness.  For beautiful eyes, see the best in people."

The week in review...

I'm back! Sorry to keep some of you waiting! Okay, where was I....

Last weekend we had no big travel plans. We went to the Singburi pool and enjoyed some sun rays for a few hours and then walked around at a local market. I saw a guy sitting with this big pile of sweetcorn and he was husking it! That is something I am very familiar with back home, so I guess it caught me as odd! 
Also, James and Pat from my school picked me up to take me shopping for a bit because I needed some skirts for teaching. It was a humorous situation! I also had a very interesting chat with a gal from Holland. We were talking about places we had traveled and Paraguay came up and she asked why I went there...thus being Mennonite came up! She asked many questions and said that she is very interested in that stuff because she wasn't raised with any religion. She said that there wasn't one kid in her class in high school that went to church. She said that she didn't think religion was very big in Holland. We shared similar thoughts of morals and values though. Sunday we headed to this resort about 2 hours away. It was a little celebration for going through culture week I guess. It was a lovely place that had a pool, golf, horse riding, massages...it was great!      

Also I got to take my first hot shower in 3 weeks and had a place with AC!  That morning I had my first coffee in 3 weeks...the caffiene practically gave me a headache! My body had forgotten what a coffee buzz was like!                                                                 

Sidenote, I found out that they use sugarcane for all of their sugar products (obviously), but it's also the main product in their ethanol, which I thought was quite interesting. 

On the way to the resort we stopped at this place called TESCO, which is a huge, supermarket/clothing/everything store, that is very popular here. After being inside for a while, I thought to myself, this is the Thailand version of Walmart! Then I saw a sign in the store that said "Tesco, we sell for less!" Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that Walmarts motto? I looked at bike helmuts while I was there, because of the fact that traffic is so crazy here!   

The next morning we had to get up  at 6am to grab a quick      breakfast and then head back to the ecohouse so we could get to school on time.  The two hour ride was spent in the back of a pickup. It was quite lovely!  At school that morning we met the computer teacher, who spoke very good English, and was quite funny! She was talking about how she is a Christian and her husband is a pastor. I thought to myself, I wonder if people who live in Thailand who are Christians, or any religion besides Buddhism, have to be careful about proclaiming to be something other than Buddhist.  I wonder if people look badly upon them. Although, even though I know that Buddhism is huge here, I think it's like any other religion, where there are always

alot of people who are luke-warm if their faith,

beliefs, and actions.  I got to see a first that

afternoon....the kids were all lining up outside for

class pictures...one of the kids was not cooperating and not standing straight and the man who was taking the picture slapped the kid on the arm.  I was shocked at first, but then realized that ws a normal thing here.

 The next day we did more talking about curriculum, strategy, and writing of the lesson plans. The Department of Ministry sets forth the standards for each grade, but the schools make their own lesson plans, pick their own curriculum, and write their own objectives.  We found out that we were going to be writing the objectives for Science, Math, and Health for this 1st grade MEP (mini-english program) class. I think I said before, that this next school yeah, which starts in May, they are planning on starting at least 1 if not 2 more MEP classrooms.  I'd assume that the 1st grade class that we are teaching right now would continue with the MEP in 2nd grade.  Lunch was less than satisfying that day, so we headed next door and got Pad Thai and some scrumptous fresh papaya!  That afternoon we had free time to take a look at some of the materials and while I did that I slipped away into Mozarts Requiem!

That evening I had a skype chat with Henry, who used to teach at our school right before us, but things didn't work out. Cailin and I thought it would be beneficial to hear what his issues were so that we could compare it to what we had been through already or what we needed to prepare ourselves for. He ended up going through a local organization to get placed in a school in Thailand and is now extremely pleased with his situation. He was also through InterExchange and Greenway, which we both agreed was the problem. I told him that even though I understood what he went through and that we had some problems of our own, that I was going to give it some time.

That night all of us girls at the Ecohouse went out to

supper at this little restaurant on the river.  We had

lunch there during our orientation and the reason we

all remembered it was because on top of all the

great thai food, there were french fries!

My new school: Anuban Singburi School

Thursday & Friday we were at our new school. We weren't supposed to be there yet, but they really wanted us to start, so we had to miss some of our culture week activities, which I was a bit sad about. But, I'm here for the kids...that's what I have to keep remembering. (It's not all about me!)  The past 2 days, we did alot of observing. Cailin and I did get to introduce ourselves and teach them a few phrases in English and had them practice to one another. I have had a few moments of tension and nervousness within myself...I think because I don't understand yet what kind of task it is that I will be trying to take on. Dealing with the language barrier, the different teaching style, and the fact that I'll be teaching 1st graders. Basically all of my experience thus far is with middle school kids; that is where I feel most comfortable. With my middle school kids I taught, they got out of control, but they were old enough to know that they were supposed to sit and behave and listen. The observing I've done in this classroom, I've realized, these kids are soo young, and you cannot expect them to sit still for long periods of time, or to be completely quiet. That will be hard for me.

I don't know if their regular teacher now has been teaching for a while, but it doesn't seem as though she has control of the class. I understand everyone has slightly different teaching styles, but I don't see how hers are conducive to keeping the class in order. Also I couldn't believe it when they pulled out a microphone! I feel that is not a good sign when you have to pull out a microphone just to be heard!!
James, the guy who has been helping us out at the school, keeps saying, you can't force learning...we don't think that kids should be sitting in their desks totally quiet and still. I agree, but I still think there needs to be some control, and some times where the kids are sitting totally quiet, listening. 

I find it amazing how similar the goals, expectations, standards, and learning objectives and almost identical to the ones that I was familiar with in the Sioux Falls district. Like I said earlier, I think that how they run their classroom is different and how they come to reach those goals might be different.  Something else that James stressed, about how they try to function at this school, is that in the classroom, you must be able to show the students how the knowledge you are trying to pour on them, will connect to their daily lives. I have learned that in my studies and teaching experiences thus far. If kids don't see a meaning and purpose and connection for the knowledge you are teaching, they don't care, and chances are they won't remember the information either. I also agree with him when he said it is very important to integrate music, sports, and other student interests into the lesson plans.  Again, it will give them that connection that is vital to learning.

We also got to see the accommodations that they are providing for us....which I was quite nervous about. I mean, I'm all about simple living...but I still like to live in a clean, semi-nice surrounding! The outside looked quite nice! I was excited! Inside, was a bit of a different story! It was just a bit dirty, and dusty. The lady that was with us, must have notices the dust as well, and said that she will come in with some people to clean it over the weekend. I also asked if there were any chairs, or a table, or silverware, plates, etc. They said they would get us a new table and chairs, and more silverware and plates if we wanted.  We have a TV, and there is this lovely, large, WOODEN couch for us to sit on! We do have hot water for our showers...but I don't really know how much I'll use that. I'd take AC over a hot shower any day here! But it's kind of cool that we have a whole house to ourselves! And it's in a very nice part of town....I mean, extremely nice compared to ALOT of parts of town I've seen in this area. Alot of really nice houses around us.

After they took us to see our house, they showed us this pool that is about a 2 minute walk away. This pool is gorgeous...I'm talking, straight out of a movie or something! Because this pool is soo nice, I figured that it would be really expensive, but it's only 50 baht, which is about $1.60.  There are also tennis courts right next to the pool if we fancy that.  So, we move into our new place on Monday, which I'm very excited about, but I will be sad to leave our friends at the Ecohouse. We don't have any friends in Singburi, so it will probably be hard for the first few weeks. Hopefully we can meet some other young teachers our age, that possibly even speak english!   

Head & Shoulders, Knees & Toes!

First off, I'm just going to touch on a few observations that I've made. I know I already mentioned the fact that I take cold showers....as in, there isn't any hot water, it's not by choice! But, also after every meal we do our dishes in this sink next to the dining area, and it is only cold water. I'm starting to think that they just don't have hot water at all. I have not encountered a washer yet, but I will when I move into my new place...I wonder if that has hot water. Not sure what the reason is for this. I will investigate.   Next, I don't think I've mentioned that there are roughly 5 billion dogs running around here everywhere! Now, for those who know me...you know I don't mind dogs...as long as they are outside...but this is too much to handle! When I walk the 2 blocks to the Internet place, I see roughly 20 dogs. Maybe it's the fact that I'm in a foreign country that makes me uneasy of these dogs, or it could be the fact that they all look quite gross and scary. I think they are all muts. They all look sickly and like they have diseases. I knew I should have got my rabies shot before I came here! Bah.

I have walked through probably a hundred markets in the almost 2 weeks I've been here...and I'm shocked every time. All of this food is just out in the open. Some things, that's fine. But all of the fish, meat, eggs...things that should probably be refridgerated or cooled a bit, is what bothers me. I know this is their cool season, but it's still hot...and I'd have to ask my grandma Carrie for backup...but she's dealt with chickens for longer than I've been alive...and I think she would agree that eggs should be refridgerated after a period! Right grandma?? Right! I had a thought today that I would not eat meat while I was here...because of what I've seen....I definitely won't eat the beef...sorry dad! 

The only thing that they have cold or on ice at the markets is the bottled water and pop. P.S. when you get a glass bottle of pop, they pour it in a bag with some ice and give you a straw. I guess they keep the bottles to recycle?? That one puzzles me as well!

Everything is just out in the open. Even most of the houses...it's like there are no doors or windows...it's just open to the outside world. It's just very weird to see because it is soo amazingly different from America.

 Okay, so yesterday we traveled to yet another temple. After getting a tour, we got to sit in on the evening chants of the monks. I guess it usually goes an hour...but they cut it short for us! Next, we were taught the 4 different ways to meditate: sitting, standing, walking, and reclining.

The only one that I could truly relax and calm my mind was when sitting, otherwise I wasn't comfortable. During meditation you are only supposed to think about good thoughts. Thinking of good things will make you do good things. If you think about bad things...well, you get the picture! You need to find peace in your mind. Control you body, speech, and mind. The monk also talked about giving up the comforts of life, so as to not clutter your mind. Well said, sir monk! We stayed at the temple that night in an adjacent building, in which we slept on mats on the floor, with small, hard pillows, and a small blanket. It was probably the worst night of sleep I've had here yet! And the best part...we had to wake up at 5AM the next morning!

We got up early to participate in some morning chanting and meditation. I tried to meditate about not being tired and finding energy in the days activities of helping others. I think it worked because

I wasn't tired for many, many hours later!

 We then set out with the monk with his cart and traveled around town, collecting the alms of food and drink, from the people that were giving. We collected soo much food! There were only 6 monks and a few nuns at that temple, so I'm not sure who eats all that food! After arriving back at the temple we did some sweeping in front of the temple to tidy up. There happened to be this group of school kids that came to the temple and they saw us and wanted to meet us. They were doing some song, so they wanted us to teach them a song. One of the girls in my group piped up and said, "Head & Shoulders, Knees & Toes!" So....that's what we taught them! Once we taught them the words and actions, we went through it a few times and then went faster and faster! They loved it! Then they taught us a song...some chicken dance song! They really enjoyed watching us act like chickens!

That afternoon, we went to the temple and offered these buckets of goods to the monks. We had to do a little chanting in the process. I think I said this earlier, but no one is allowed to touch the monks, so we had to hand the baskets to them by putting it on this linen, which they then could take. It's strange to me. The monk gave us another talk on Buddhism and meditation and then we took some pictures and called it a day. It was funny to me when the monk pulled out his camera to get a picture as well!

So they have these things here....they are kind of like crepes....made with a very thin dough...on a hot skillet....and then they drizzle a bit of sweetened condensed milk and sugar on them and roll them up. WOWSWERS! Yummy! It kind of reminds me of the doughnuts we would make as a family every year for my birthday as well. I thought I would possibly be able to lose some lbs. here....but I don't think so! Tomorrow is my first day at my new school, so I am very excited!

A lesson in Buddhism

We woke up at 5:45am yesterday morning...to give food to monks traveling by with a cart. I guess they come by every morning, but you don't have to bring them food every morning. It reflects well on you to give them food though. The monks aren't supposed to cook, that is why people give them food. After you give them food, the monk gives you a blessing. After lunch we watched a video by BBC on Buddhism. There was a man, 500 years before Christ, whose goal was to go through pain and suffering to reach nirvana. Buddhism started in India. This man, who was later referred to as The Buddah, thought that the goal in life was to reach peace, happiness, and to achieve a higher mental calm and clarity. He grew up as a prince but wandered out on his own to discover that all actions have consequences (karma). He realized that luxury isn't enough, there was more to this world. Your mind is the center of your being and controls your body and actions.

We need to find peace through meditation and enlightenment. Buddah encountered much suffering outside his palace world and was very distraught by this. He also found his own suffering. People should have freedom from suffering. Buddhism is a religion without God, it deals with a path that lies within us for how we can reach this state of nirvana. The foundations of Buddhism are peace, non-violence, to not steal, lie, kill, to not indulge, and to give up our possessions and selfish desires. (Kind of sounds like Mennonite in a way eh!). There are 5 precepts of Buddhism: 1. to not kill or harm living beings. 2. to not steal. 3. to not have improper sexual conduct or to commit adultery. 4. to not lie, have impolite speach, to not set people against each other, and to not gossip. 5. to not intoxicate yourself on drinks or harmful drugs. A person who is in control of their body and of their verbal actions is a person with Sila, or virtue.

Meditation: is a way to purify your mind from unwholesome thoughts such as hatred, selfish desire, ignorance, mental defilement or impurities. The benefits of meditation are 1. Calming of our minds. With a calm and strong mind we maybe be able to face all kinds of problems and difficulties in our daily lives confidently. 2. It helps us to concentrate better by sharpening our mental faculties. 3. It frees us from all kinds of stress, worries, and anxieties. 4. It improves our mental and physical health. 5. It helps develop a sound mind and body by cleansing impurities. 6. It cultivates loving-kindness, compassion, inner peace and humilty. It prevents hatred, greed, passion, selfishness, and jealousy.

I really like the concepts of Buddhism and meditation. I think we could all learn from that. There are alot of other customs and such that I still have alot of questions about and find a bit odd. Watching this documentary by BBC, it said at the end that because of the type of person that Buddah was, he would not have approved all of these huge statues in his honor or all of the fancy things that now repsent him. It seems Buddhism is also very much about material things, which is something Buddah was opposed to. I'm excited to be able to learn more about Buddhism and meditation. I think there are definitely things to learn.

Monkeys & Birthdays!

This past Friday morning was quite the adventure...I had been anticipating it all week. We went to visit this monkey town! (Tanya you would have peed your pants with excitement!). Even as we were approaching upon the town...you could see these little furry creatures running around....EVERYWHERE! I asked our lady....how could this be? Is this really the only town around that has monkeys everywhere? WHY!?!? She said that the town used to be a jungle...and once it was taken over and civilization moved in....the monkey didn't budge! They just stayed! You could buy little bags of corn to feed to the monkeys...but I was smart and didn't buy one...for fear that those little fur balls would be able to smell it on me and then attack me! They weren't huge monkeys. Maybe the biggest were about 2 feet tall? Not sure. But there were little baby ones too that were adorable! It was out of this world...I mean there were seriously hundreds of monkeys running around! I was just playing it cool....watching everyone else feed them, minding my own business...when all of a sudden I felt one on my back! Thankgoodness I did the right thing and didn't panick or scream...I was mostly just frozen with fear! Also fortunately I didn't get bit like a girl the previous week who had to go to the hospital for

a week and a half!  

Onto more exciting things....birthdays! After we had our fix of monkeys, we had some lunch and came back to the ecohouse, where we had some mini-busses waiting for us, to take us to Koh Samed, an island not far off the coast. It took us about 4 hours to get there...and the last 2 hours it was POURING rain! Potentially I thought a monsoon was coming! (Our driver must be used to the weather because he kept driving at normal speed!). It was still pouring when we got to the dock to take our ferry to the island. I was quite sad at the prospect of it raining all weekend! Then as I was about to step onto the ferry boat, the native man said, watch your head. I saw what he meant as he helped me on....but, to no avail! THUD! I winced with pain as I came down onto the ferry after my "run-in!" (Chewy and Carrie, the sound was similar to the "thud" when I hit my head on that dresser a few birthdays ago!) I thought I was a coordinated person....but maybe that is slipping away in my old age!

We finally get to the island get our bags and walk through the rain to find a place to stay. We finally got a room, dried off a bit, changed clothes and went to get a bite to eat. We ate at a little place called PLOY. I guess it's the spot to be in the later evening, for live music, a fire show, fire works, and dancing. There were 17 of us total that came from the ecohouse. We got a table for all of us and enjoyed some scrumptious Thai cuisine....all the while there was a band playing cover songs....from the U.S.! It was kind of an out of body experience! I was in this foreign land, hearing a Thai band sing anything from Creedence Clearwater and John Denver, to new pop songs! After the band played for a while we got to enjoy a fireshow! This was amazing! There were probably 10 guys total (who had to have had something on their bodies to prevent them from getting burned!), who took these long rods with flames on each end or swung these ropes with balls of flames on each end, and did trick after trick...throwing them up in the air....standing on anothers shoulders...laying on the ground...behind their backs....tossing them across the beach to each other....I'm sure my mouth was dropped open the whole time! Later that night we enjoyed watching some locals show off their dance moves....(I couldn't understand how they could twist and move their body like that!). At midnight everyone wished me happy birthday! Later that night I thought that I had lost my purse on the beach....this was NOT a fun moment! I panicked. I couldn't find my purse anywhere, which had all of my money, credit cards, passport, iPod, camera....everything! I was a bit unstable for a while until I found it! It was so dark on the beach that I guess we got confused as to what table we had left it at!

The next day (my actual b-day...well, in Thailand...not quite yet back home!), we enjoyed the day out at the beach, soaking up rays and listening to the waves crash into the shore. The water and view was breath-taking. I didn't go into the water very much, because the salt content was a little too much to bear! I had some Pad Thai for lunch...it was good....but nothing compared to that lady from the boat! I need to find her again! For supper that night about 8 of us gals decided to go a bit more upscale for supper! We had heard a recommendation for a place called Summer, owned by a Scottish lady who had moved here years ago. It was a gorgeous place. We started upstairs, looking out over the ocean, with some appetizers, and then moved to the candlelit dock for our main course. I can imagine it would be even more beautiful during the day! I enjoyed some grilled salmon with potatoes and spinich.

After supper we came back to PLOY...we were just sitting there enjoying the music, when all of a sudden my friend brings me a small birthday cake and the band and people on the beach start singing happy birthday to me! it was pretty neat! I called it a night shortly after that....I think the heat just took it out of me. Sunday we did some more beach action before having to catch the ferry back to get on our bus.

It was a short night because this morning we had to get up at 5:45 to bring some food to the monks who come by every morning. I guess it is not right for the monks to make their own food...they are not supposed to cook. So the people of the town give food to them so they can eat. I think it also reflects well on the person that gives....Buddah approves! I'm definitely excited to learn more about Buddhism this week....because some things seem kind of crazy right now to me...but I think if I know the history, it will help my understanding.

Our School in Singburi

Okay, so I know that most of you know that I am not very easily excited.... (HAHA!!!)....but I am very excited about this post!!! So, as I've mentioned a few times, Cailin and I just haven't been sure most of the time with what is really going on....where we will be teaching, if we are supposed to do all these weeks of oriention, the fact that there aren't any other teachers staying at the ecohouse with us, why our lady from back in New York from our organization isn't giving us straight answers, I could go on and on! This morning we were all supposed to go visit this school/orphanage...but when we went for breakfast JJ, our guide/instructor, said that Cailin and I will be going to a different school, the one that we are supposedly teaching at. So, we were very excited! This couple picks us up and takes us to Singburi to our school. James is one of the school assistants, and Pat is a teacher there and the director of MEP, which stands for Mini English Program...which we will be working at. This is the first school year this program has been running, and it's just one classroom. For the next school year (this May), they plan on having one or two more classrooms. The Thai MEP, the Thai government, and the parents are the ones who fund the program. It is based on the Thai curriculum for content and standards, and they will be getting a new, more up to date curriculum in May. This is the only MEP program in the Singburi province, in a primary school, and there is only 1 as well at the secondary level. The classroom is run half in English, half in Thai. The subjects that they only teach in English are Math, Science, Computer, Health, and English classes (obviously!). The school we will be teaching at is over 2000 kids, grades K-6, with about 6 sections in each grade level. We will be in this MEP classroom that is a 1st grade classroom, with about 35 students. I guess we kind of have our pick as to which of these subjects we want to teach. Obviously I want to teach the Math, but I would be willing to do the computer or health as well. We don't know how many hours they expect yet, but James said that we are able to work up from our starting pay...he said there is no ceiling to our pay. Basically, the more we take on, the more we could make. There is no way that I'll only do the minimum, which is probably only 25-30. I think I will definitely pick up some extra, and we have a chance for teaching possibilities outside of the school day for kids, or the other Thai teachers.
We didn't have a chance to look at the curriculum yet, but we did talk about their goals and strategies for teaching...which I absolutely agreed with. James said that he thinks there is too much focus on the output, that being homework, tests, grades, etc. He said there should be more focus on the outcome, which is if you thought that you have learned/what you have learned for yourself. He said we will talk about goals to reach, about the exams, and then the procedures to attain those. We discussed their 7 standards: 1. Moral. 2. Health, body, mind. 3. Art, music, sports. 4. Thinking-making visions, using strategy, making predictions, to analyze and sythesize. 5. Knowledge of the 8 core subjects. 6. Life-long learning-continuing education, having a thirst and wanting for knowledge. 7. Work and the social aspect. Again, I really felt connected with these standards and goals.
He also said that they place (I assume like an apartment), that they provide for us has a kitchen, refridge, stove, washer, WiFi, it's 5 minutes from the pool.....and then we asked the obvious question...does it have AC??? He said NO! hmfph. It was all great up to that point! But he said that if we commit to a year (which I already am), and if things go well and we want to stay after a month, that he could talk to some people and we could probably get AC. They basically want to be as accomodating as possible...I think they really want us to stay. They were quite excited about 2 young gals teaching. The other English speaking man there is from Scotland (not as exciting as it sounds....b/c he's in his 50's!!!), and they don't think the students like older men.
So it sounds very promising and I am extremely excited for the possibilities and it is a way better set up than I anticipated! We will see what happens in the next couple weeks! Stay tunes!

Learning the Thai language/Cooking classes

We have now had 2 language classes. We furiously write down as our teacher talks! (Tina, I'm using that great little small journal you gave me for xmas, so I can take it anywhere!). We are learning I, you, we, they, the 5 w's, hello, goodbye, thank you, etc. We are also learning key phrases. We learned alot of important verbs and nouns....and today we learned numbers, colors, and foods. Their language is extremely hard to learn because there are a possibility of 4 or 5 different ways to pronounce the same word, so that it means something different. You can say it with a flat tone, a medium tone, where you start low and get higher pitched, where you start high and then get lower, and then one that is just high. For instance, the word gai...could mean chicken or far, depending on your tones....or tao, which is the color grey or could be turtle! It's crazy....and frustrating. And they kind of pronounce their l's like r's and vice versa.
We saw yet another temple yesterday....this one had the largest reclining buddah in Singburi province. It is 47 meters long, which is a little over 154 feet! They were doing some construction on it, but you could still see it....so BIG!! I also got to hit these 4 big gongs...I think it's for good luck or something.

I'm very excited for next week, which is culture week, because I'd like to learn more about Buddhism....some of the rituals and stuff are very interesting to me, and I think it would be helpful to learn about the history.

In the afternoon we headed to Singburi (the ecohouse we live at now is about 5 or 6 miles outside of Singburi), to this huge market which is right next to this supermarket or supercenter sort of place. I thought Singburi wasn't that big, but this would tell me otherwise! Inside their center they had tons of places to eat, a grocery store, many department stores, and something that was quite shocking....of all things it had a KFC in it! After that we went for dinner at a Thai BBQ place. You get some finger food to start off and then they put these grill/fryer things in front of you and give you meat, veggies, noodles, etc and you basically cook it yourself. It was soooo scrumptous! I ate like a little pig!

Oh, I'm not sure if I mentioned this already but there is this sweet little internet/grocery place like 2 blocks from our ecohouse...and it's only 20 baht for an hour! That's like 60 cents! Unfortunately there is no wifi here.

The last thing that we did this afternoon was we had some Thai cooking classes! It was splendid! Don't worry, I wrote it all down and I will be ready to make it upon my return home! We made papaya salad (not like the papaya we know though), pad see ew, and something with banana and coconut for dessert (sorry, I didn't write that one down...no bueno on the bananas!).

Orientation/training

Cailin and I feel like we have many unanswered questions...but we hoped that our orientation would be our suspicion to rest! We had our program coordinator introduce herself, talk about the rules and such of the ecohouse and then go into detail about what the next 4 weeks will entail. The first week is orientation week where we get to go to many different provinces in the region and see many temples and other sorts of sightseeing. The 2nd week is culture week, where we get to see temples in more detail, talk with monks, learn alot about Buddhism, and get some Thai cooking classes. The 3rd week is trekking, which includes biking and hiking all over. The last week is beach week, in which we mostly get free time at some beaches, but then have a day to do snorkling, diving, etc. Unfortunately, Cailin and I weren't sure if we got to do the last 2 weeks, because we are supposed to get our TEFL(teaching english as a foreign language) training during that time. I'm going to see what I can do to participate in the trekking and beaching!
We stopped at a place on the river for lunch that first day of orientation, where they had an amazing spread of thai food....along with some chicken tenders and fries! Hilarious!

Then we stopped at this lady's bead shop where we got to make bracelets for ourselves. My creative gene was in hiding that day I think!
Day 2 of orientation. We took off in the morning and drove over an hour and toured many gorgeous old temples and ruins in the old capitol of Thailand. I saw some of the most humungous(sp?) Buddahs ever! (again, pictures will follow....speaking of....can anyone help me figure out how you post pictures on a blog?). After a quick lunch, I got to cross off one of my goals for my trip.....I got to ride an elephant!! It was 500 baht to ride (roughly $15), and I had no question in my mind as to whether or not I was going to do it. When I climbed up the stairs to the platform where we get on the elephant, I froze! My stomach was upside down with fright! I finally forced myself to get on the giant creature. I held pretty darn tight to the chair thing we sat in, for fear of falling off! It was quite the experience. Scary. Exhilarating. Breath-taking. And saddening.

 Watching the people beforehand do all of these tricks with the elephants, made me think that there isn't good treatment. The guy had this elephant put a bunch of hula hoops on his trunk, he gave him a harmonica to play while the elephant basically tapped his feet and danced. It was a bit disturbing.

We also visited another temple in which our guide showed us the proper procedure when you come in, and how you bow to Buddah. Then, you make a wish, and have a container fulls of sticks with numbers on them, and you shake the container until one stick falls out. There is a number on the stick, and you take it to someone else, who then gives you a fortune of sorts, or something that says what the future or present holds. If it doesn't say something good, you are to throw it away. This is what mine read..."Beware of the past and be careful of any affairs. Seek advice from elderly and follow old beliefs. Sickness will be recovered. Issues are still not settled. Fortune is found as you expected. Relatives welcome your visit. You will meet your loved one in the near future." Hmmmm......
We also stopped by this elephant farm place, where this rich guy basically buys elephants that would otherwise be killed or abandoned or abused. These are also the same elephants that we rode. I was told there are over 100 elephants on the farm. We got to observe 2 young boys take an elephant to the river to give him a bath. It was quite the site! There was a baby elephant there that was 8 days old....it was adorable!!!

The last crazy thing that we did today is we had supper on this boat, which went down the river as we ate. About half way through our meal...the music started. Yes it's true....we had kareoke on the boat! I could not believe the songs they were playing. Just ridiculous, cheesy songs from America. I had to pinch myself to make sure this was actually happening! Some of the other gals sang some Brittney Spears song. I thought to myself...could I really pass up an opportunity like this to sing kareoke on a boat floating down a river in a foreign country? I think not! What was my choice? Killing me softly of course! It was a tough selection.

Arrival in Singburi

okay i'm back! so we took a bus to singburi, which is where we are going to be for the next 4 weeks for training. we arrive at our ecohouse, to find that we have a bunkbed sort of setup, no A/C, (just fans), and a few little friends who we presumed would be staying with us for the duration of our time there! our new little friends were some cute little green geckos! at first we were scared of them....because they are such quick little devils! but i'm told that they eat bugs and such....and i realize that there is no way they can hurt me! so, i think i can handle some geckos. now snakes or big spiders? then i have issues!

cailin and i were a bit confused as to why there weren't alot of people around. where were the other volunteers? over the past 36 hours, there have been more people to arrive, but we have realized that we are the only people here that are teaching...and the only ones that are staying a year. everyone else is only there for a few weeks and they are almost all from sweden! so many there will be alot more young people when we get to the school we are teaching at? who knows. frustrating though.

so our first afternoon at our new location....i almost cracked! truly. i was so hot and sweating so much....i thought to myself...what the fuzz am i doing here! i'll take 2 feet of snow any day!!! (someone who is reading this that will see my dear father....please tell him not to complain about the snow....because at least he knows the snow will disperse....this hot weather never leaves!!). so, there i lay in my new bed....with the fan blowing on me....but i'm still so hot...and sweating so much! we decide to take a walk to this little store with an internet place that is 2 blocks away. i asked the people at the counter, (who speak basically no english), for a mosquito net. they don't understand. there bedroom was right behind the counter so i walked over and tugged on their net. they understood. the lady pulls out this beauteous turquoise green net....i said, i'll take it!

 i also stocked up on some bug spray. the mosquitos aren't bad during the day because it's so hot...but i guess once it cools off a big in the late afternoon early evening, they come out with a vengence! the one girl who had been here for a few weeks said she had to go to the hospital for a week and a half because of so many bites. excellent. sign me up! oh, and we only have cold water for our showers....but you could probably guess from my earlier statements about being extremely hot and sweaty...that i really don't mind the cold showers! i actually quite enjoy them!